Abstract
Optimization techniques are becoming essential in the field of power systems. In this paper, two Dynamic Programming (DP) optimization methods were used to solve a large-scale problem which is known as the unit commitment problem (UCP). A sample of ten generating units that forms one power station in Kuwait was chosen to be tested. This paper aims to have a schedule with the least possible electricity production cost while meeting the hourly demand in addition to other system constraints and this is what is known as UCP. A MATLAB code was used to generate solutions for the ten-unit system. The results showed that the conventional DP method reduced the cost by 36.1% while priority DP method reduced the cost by 35%. Since the future NEWKUWAIT vision is introducing renewable energy resources to the power system, solving the UCP will be the first step towards reaching the vision.